I for one, am glad Yuuya had lost the duel. While it would have been awesome to see him pull an upset against Jack who is hailed as the King of Kings, this works better for both the plot and Yuuya’s character development. Yuuya’s worries of riding and dueling at the same time was cleared by the auto-pilot function, but his emotional stress got the better of him today. The first problem was the different dueling style, (riding duel) and the second and key problem was being taunted by Jack’s claim he will entertain the crowd by defeating him in three turns. The minute he said that, Yuuya initial goal was to show off his entertainment duel, but it never happened. Even though the match ended in three turns, Yuuya didn’t even attempt to start off with, “Ladies and Gentlemen” like he usually does when he wants to deliver, nor did he intend to make his attacks showy. Instead he was dragged into the mindset of, ‘I have to win. I refuse to lose in three turns!’. It certainly didn’t make him feel any better by Jack telling him his entertainment is garbage.
It is up in the air whether or not Jack would have lost had they not gone with the Action Duel format to accommodate Yuuya. Jack had the counters ready, so considering he has been in countless exhibition duels, he probably already has both old and new tricks up his sleeve to ensure he successfully follows through with his claim.
If you were wondering how different ARC-V Jack is compared to 5Ds, well he is still the arrogant dick we know (and some love). But, I think he might be even worse than 5Ds’ Jack. Although he is still all about entertainment and power, I got the sense this Jack has a different air about him. His character feels colder than the one we know in 5Ds (or maybe it’s just me because it has been a couple of years since I have last watched 5Ds). Jack’s origins are more or less the same, minus the Zero Reverse event since there has been no word of it. He grew up as a commoner, was previously friends with Crow (until he ‘betrayed’ him), and naturally rose to the top by becoming the reigning King of the Friendship Cup.
Yuzu’s mysterious bracelet came back in action today. She seems to be getting the gist of how it works after all the bizzare experiences she had with it. The stone/gem inside it was flashing in response to Yuuya’s presence without sending Yuugo off to god knows where. My presumption is because the arena was so large, the distance between Yuuya and Yuugo is what prevent one or the other to poof off elsewhere. In fact, I am curious to see if there will be a reversal now that they are in the Synchro Realm. Before in the Standard World, Yuuto, Yuugo and Yuuri were all sent off whenever Yuuya or one or the other drew near. So it makes me wonder if the same will happen in the Synchro World, but this time will response to Yuugo in the way it did with Yuuya. If that does happen, it will certainly make it very interesting, and it if it doesn’t- well it will only make me even more curious of why it only responds to Yuuya (perhaps it might have to do with the Pendulum if not the fact he is also from the Standard World?)
Now about the board, remember last week how I was on the fence of whether or not we can trust them? Well they certainly cleared that up real fast. No the old geezers are not friendly, and as you have probably noticed, Reiji looked 10000% done with this shit. He was probably thinking, ‘They have no intention of helping us.’ And sure enough, that’s the board’s attitude. The scary and messed up part of the Friendship Cup is that the sentimental meaning behind it, isn’t delivered. The Commoners (and our fellow Lancers included), will only be treated with privilege and respect as long as they keep winning. The second they lose, they lose everything. And if you thought that wasn’t bad enough, the Exhibition Duel Jean had chosen Yuuya to participate in the last thing anyone wants to be selected for. Yuugo explained Yuuya was selected to be the scapegoat in order to show off the strength of the King, who only will compete against the winner. (Yet despite knowing that, he still idolizes Jack). Knowing the ugly truth makes it an understatement of why Crow didn’t want to participate in the Friendship Cup, and his unfavorable opinion of it. On the contrary of ‘why’ the Friendship Cup was established in the first place, there is nothing friendly or uniting about this tournament. It is the battle to climb to the top for the sake of a better lifestyle.
Next week! The board will be stepping in to prevent Yuzu and Yuugo from being arrested by Jean Rogers (at least they are doing something right- for now). And in the mean time, Yuuya’s dragons are reacting/responding to Yuugo’s, so I am really excited to see an indication they will finally follow up on that! Besides being each others’ counterparts, there is clearly an importance to their dragons that connects them in a special way, so I am excited to find out!
Oh and one last thing: WHAT THE FUCK IS BEHIND JEAN ROGERS? A cyborg? Are they going to bring that back?!
I don’t get why Yugo described the exhibition duel in such a… uh… emotionally loaded way, as if it were something horrible. It’s a pretty common practice to kickstart an event by letting the champion show off in a challenge against a random newbie, and it’s usually presented as an honor for the aforementioned newbie to get to fight the champion – even if he’s very, very unlikely to win. If anything, I thought there would be rows of people wanting to begin their career by dueling the King.
I believe he explained it that way due to how their divided social class is in the Synchro Realm. This would further explain why Crow didn’t want to participate. He doesn’t like the idea of ‘entertaining the Tops’ because he recognizes the true and hypocritical nature of the tournament. And let’s be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if the those who have been selected in the past were ONLY commoners (in order not to tarnish the Tops’ reputation despite the so-called purpose for the greater good of the competition.) If it has always only been a commoner, then it is understandable why whey would feel like they would be treated or described as scapegoats, and since Yuuya is an outsider, that includes him too.
Crow’s criticism is towards the cup itself, though. And I can’t really say the guy’s wrong. Though I get that if the “victims” in the exhibition matches are only Commons, it makes sense that Yugo would be pissed. He didn’t say a thing about that, though…
Actually I think that Yuzu’s bracelet acts like this:
Yuzu is with one the Yu boys —> Another Yu arrives —> The first Yu is sended off elsewhere —> Only the second one remains
Considering that’s how it worked on Yuri and Yugo, I don’t think it works only when Yuya arrives, but to every one of them. So it would send Yugo elsewhere, but not because of the dimension they’re in but because of the aforementioned dynamic.
Other than that I agree with your review especially with the shady concil, If their mindset of winners and losers is si strong, who is to say that unless they’re are confident of the Lancer’s abilities, they will not side with Academia instead (the ‘winners’ of the war so far), and very unlikely to feel sympathy for the Heartland tragedy to booth?
Personally I hope that there’s a coup d’etat in the works or something like that.
I agree with your theory, that makes a whole lot more sense too- and also creates a potential threat if Yuuri is the one to send the first Yu elsewhere.
I feel like there is a coup d’etat in the works, particularly with the MC involved since her behavior was suspicious after watching Yuugo duel. It has been swept under the rug and I wouldn’t be surprised of people already forgot the scene. Or, there may be no follow up at all- but it certainly doesn’t hurt to wait and see if my suspicions are on the mark.
My personal theory about the bracelet is that it teleports the one closest to Yuzu/the bracelet, and it doesn’t do so immediately. Given what we’ve seen so far, it makes sense. We don’t know WHERE it teleports people, though. It clearly didn’t teleport Yuto far enough to prevent him from coming back (unless Yuto had a way of travelling through dimensions at will, unlike Yugo), but it DID teleport Yuzu and Yugo in the Synchro dimension. As for the situation, I’d say that pretty much everyone is shady. The council as much as, if not more than, JMR himself (though at least they don’t seem to be buddies with Academia, at least)…
JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK IS BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!
But before I get into that Imma just quickly sum up how I felt about last week’s episode since I’ve been kind of busy, both with traveling and keeping up with Comic Con. I liked it, it was the first episode in a while that genuinely entertained me. However I did find it a bit funny that the chasers used cards instead of guns or capturing equipment, I can understand using dueling to stop someone speeding down the highway, or as a non violent easy means of arrest, but when you have criminals escaping a facility you’re really pressing my suspension of disbelief, especially since 5D’s showcased both dueling and regular methods of arrest in the series. However I think it all comes down to the fact that 5D’s was more made for a young adult crowd, while Arc-V is clearly more all ages. That being said Yuya and the others facing the Duels Chasers made for an entertaining duel, so it didn’t bother me too much. I was glad to see most everyone reunited, and as I suspected Reiji had already made contact with the higher ups. I think it’s kinda weird that we’re already having another tournament right after the Miami Cup, and I find it odd they picked Yuya since they only have footage of him Pendulum Summoning, while they have footage of Dennis using Pendulum Summoning and Xyz Summoning, but both are minor complaints.
As for this week’s episode I think it was perfect, Jack was introduced in a way that pleases us fans of 5D’s. and does great job showcasing him to anyone that’s new to the series, and shows why he’s know as “The King” I honestly got chills seeing him make his entrance on screen just like he did back in 5D’s, this whole episode did a great job of recapturing a lot of the essence of 5D’s. The other thing I like is that the duel was short, yet it had Yuya use his abilities to the fullest, by showing him Pendulum, Fusion, and Xyz Summoning, while using an Action Card, which was all futile against Jack. The only thing that could have made this duel better is if the producers found a way to use this soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibHU7K2mnVg and if we could have seen classic Red Demon’s Dragon (but Jack’s new monster is a fitting substitute).
One other thing I’d like to mention that relates to both episodes is just how much I really do enjoy Jean-Michel Roger. Rex Godwin is my all time favorite villain (along with Sinestro), and as I said he’s basically Godwin light, which last week’s episode proved by showing that while he does like to hold all the pieces, he still has people he needs to answer to (and it’s pretty clear he doesn’t like that). While I don’t think he is working with the Academy, I do think he will try to overthrow this dimension’s government, fail, and after failing be approached by the Academy to join them and help them take over the Synchro Dimension, that’s my theory.
(P.S. sorry for such a long comment)
Ooooh what a
gloriousmess that would be! Jean attempting to overthrow the board, chaos in the commons, and then BOOM when they are most vulnerable Academia attacks, shit goes down. Yes *rubs hands together* I would love to see that!I must say Yuya in a riding suit just made my day! I know that seems like the oddest thing to focus on here but i am just so psyched that all of the characters including Yuzu (with the exception of Yugo cos he never takes his off) will wear riding suits! I can’t wait to see Selenas!!
The actual episode itself was very good because i was actually worried for Yuya. I knew Jack Atlas was a king but goddamn! When he rode out on his D-wheel like a badass i practically squealed like a fangirl for the second episode in a row. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Jack in 5ds considering he had a stick up his arse half of the time. There were some parts where he was genuinely a good character so i like him for that. I actually did believe that Jack would beat Yuya but not in the three turn prediction he gave. I thought that Yuya would survive one more turn and then Jack would still defeat him. That’s why it totally threw me off that Yuya lost like predicted! And i both hate and love this episode because of that! (when i hate and love something, it’s doing something good as it is stirring up emotion inside of me. So the writing in this episode was pretty good).
The one thing i cannot stand about this episode is the bloody fangirls screaming ‘Atlas-sama!’ ARGHHHH! i want to rip their vocal chords from their throats! It’s like with you and your hatred of characters chanting someones name in encouragement like with ‘enjoy choujiro’. I just can’t stand it because it doesn’t seem like they are that interested in his dueling and more interested in Jack’s looks and basically want him to pick one of them as his girlfriend it just… GRRRARGHHH!! Stupid Hormonal Teenage anime girls!!!